Monday, December 31, 2012

The novel Les Miserables, written by Victor Hugo in 1862, has been
very popular here in Korea over the years in movie, musical and TV
drama versions. A young woman in the French department of Seoul
University has written an article in the Catholic Times on her impressions of
the novel. She believes the reason for the story's power resides in Hugo's sympathetic treatment of persons who are faced with wretched circumstances and yet are able to overcome their problems with determination, skill and and unbending belief.

The expression Les Miserables
means the pitiful people. The novel recounts the lives of people who lack
virtue, the lives of the poor, and the unfortunate. The portrayal, she says, is realistic and
severe. But the misery and wretchedness is not only described negatively but allows us to see how such circumstances can be surmounted.

This
is especially seen in the fate of the main character, Jean Valjean, a
convicted criminal who was released from prison. He was welcomed into
the house of a bishop when all the others refused him shelter, and while in the house he stole the
silverware. When he was arrested by the police, the bishop told them that
it was his gift to Jean Valjean, which got him released. This was not
enough to get him to change his life, however, but he did so after an incident that
happened shortly after.

He
stole a coin from a
child.This was the first time that his conscience gave him trouble and
brought a change in his life. He was able, said the writer, to achieve
goodness through the evil that he experienced. Misery, pain, poverty,
sin--all present in and maintained by society are what we
have to continually strive to overcome. This is the driving force behind
progress and in the process of overcoming these difficulties we become
strong.

Although Victor Hugo was not Catholic, says
the writer, he rejected Catholic teachings and rituals but he
served a God of love and mercy.To Hugo, God was justice and
truth, mercy and law, and the God of love. The God of Les Miserables is
not the all-knowing and almighty God who, in the minds of some, determines our fate and instils fear but he who makes one surpass their will and actions
by working toward an ideal. It is for this reason that Jean Vajean is seen
as a Jesus figure. Like Jesus--God becoming man--Jean Valjean
in overcoming hardships, was man becoming God. He surpassed the bishop in
his passive mercy for he went into the marketplace expressing mercy to
those he met.

In 1789, with the beginning of the French
Revolution, the curtain came down on an era in which people entrusted
everything to God. Now humanity accepts responsibility for making history and for deciding the future direction of society. In the second part
of the book, after the June Revolt of 1832, this is made very clear as the the search for freedom and justice becomes the central focus of the story.

However, misery
does not easily disappear. There is the cunning and evil innkeeper,
the women who in order to live have to sell their bodies, the police office
using force and unfair laws to get his way, and the continual
existence of poverty, misery and pain. And yet by facing these difficult circumstances with
positive values, humanity will end up the victor and be directed to God.

Jean
Valjean is Victor Hugo's ideal human. He lived justly, but to the very
last moment of life he suffered and died lonely, embracing and forgiving all. In Valjean, we can see the image of Jesus, of Prometheus who stole fire for humankind,
and of Sisyphus who continues to roll the stone uphill, only to have it fall
back to the bottom again,requiring still more effort to push it once more uphill, in a seemingly hopeless task.

A
question does arise for many after reading the book or seeing one of
its many adaptations and wondering why was it on the list
of forbidden books of the Catholic Church. To answer correctly such a
question we have to locate ourselves in the times and the Europe in which the book was published. See what was happening in society and how the book would be received by the Catholics.Victor Hugo was
brought up Catholic, kept his faith in God but gradually lost all
sympathy for the Catholic Church. His view of life in any event would
have been in some way formed by what he grew up with even though in
later years he was turned off by what he saw and experienced in the Catholicism of his times.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Today is the Feast of the Holy Family, and the editorial in the Peace Weekly
stresses the importance of family life, especially because of its
influence on the health of our society. Starting on the 30th of
December, a week will be set aside for reflections on the family and its
sanctification.

The end of one year and the beginning of a new
one means that everybody will be busy with many things. However, during
this busy time we need to reflect on what a family is and how to make it
a small domestic church. In his message for the Feast Day, the bishop
responsible for overseeing the health of family life in the diocese says
families are finding it difficult to withstand the distorted values of
society, and the bonds of family are weakening. The role of parents in
correcting the situation cannot be stressed enough, he said, and noted
that we should not pass over lightly the causes and solutions that are
implied.

In these times, we have many young people who are
hurting, because of the distorted values that have infiltrated family
life. Pope John Paul saw the family as the "intimate community of
love." And yet there remains in many families selfish decisions, parents
desiring satisfaction through their children, spouses demanding a
one-way sacrifice of the other, lack of understanding, and the like,
which makes for instability of the family. Today it is even difficult to
find unconditional love in the family. Problems with the young are
often caused by societal and educational difficulties, which are usually
preceded to a great extent by the breakdown of family values.

The
Church sees the family in a much deeper and spiritual way than does
society. Parents are to love each other as Christ loved the Church. It
is this example of love that all parents should have. Before the desire for their children to enter a first-rate college and succeed in
life, they should be concerned with having the Gospel values introduced
to their children.

Mother's role in the family is central. All of us received our first feeding at our mother's bosom, and learned something about love and courage from our mothers. The mother's hands extending to the child should be like the extended hands of God. In this way, the child will grow in love.

Fathers should have the same trust and faith that Joesph had in God when Joseph took care of Jesus and his mother. The place of the father in the family is obviously of great importance. No matter how difficult the situation may turn out to be, he is responsible for the welfare of the family.

We
are coming to the end of the year and the editorial hopes that every
family will get together to talk about how they will become a holier family in the new year.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Because the
relationship between husband and wife is so close, it's not surprising
that they can be easily hurt by the words they say to each other. The
words that tend to cause hurt feelings depend, according to the
priest-columnist of the Peace Weekly, on the biological differences
between male and female. In his weekly column on happiness, he explores
the effect of our gender differences on a couple's happiness. Whether
this is mostly myth is the reader's choice to make; it does make for
interesting reading.

In the male, speech is controlled by the
left hemisphere of the brain; in the female both the left and right
hemisphere control speech. When the left hemisphere of the brain in
both the male and female is damaged, as sometimes happens in a violent
accident, the male loses his ability to speak, the female does not.

From the time of creation God made man to speak 10,000 words a day while the woman was made to speak 25,000 words, says the columnist. Let
us suppose, says the columnist, that during the day both the husband
and wife, at work or in the home, have spoken 10,000 words. Then that
evening when they are together, let us also suppose that the husband
doesn't want to talk anymore while the wife still has 15,000 words she
wants to share with him. It's easy to understand why the woman becomes
frustrated, believing that he simply does not want to talk.

Continuing with the gender differences as they manifest in our everyday behaviors, the columnist says the
male can do only one thing at a time while the female can do many
things. The woman while active doing something, let's say cooking, can
also do a number of other things, like listening to what is being said,
talking on the telephone, among other things; the man, supposedly, can
do only one thing at a time. He says the woman's sight is also more
developed than the man's, distinguishing more colors. When a couple
goes shopping for clothes, determining what goes with what is often a
contentious issue. The woman also has better visual memory than a man's.
At any large gathering of people, the man will remember only a few of
those he meets, the woman will remember many. The man also loses more of
his hearing ability than the woman.

The woman, however, finds it
more difficult to follow directions. And with age the woman loses
spacial cognitive abilities.This is something husbands would do well to
remember, he advises.

Man's skin is four times the thickness of
the woman's. She, however, has more fat which allows her to endure the
cold better than the man. However, with age she shows her age quicker
than the male because of her thinner skin.

The woman's senses are also more acute and she is more emotional. When the husband is sick she often begins her caring efforts with words of comfort and then prepares
the medicines and food. When the wife is sick many husbands do not know
what to do. He is often less perceptive of what his wife is feeling,
sometimes only noticing his wife's anger after the instigating situation
has passed. With a husband whose senses are dull, and a wife who is
very sensitive, there is bound to be conflict.

The obvious
consequence of these gender differences for a man and a woman living
together is likely to be unhappiness, unless, says the columnist, the
couple learn to accept the differences between
the sexes, and refuse to make them into an obstacle in achieving
happiness together. Once this is accomplished, a beautiful harmony
becomes possible, with the man and the woman taking turns deferring to
the other in areas where the other is more competent.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Liturgically, we have greeted again the baby Jesus with joy and praise
as we come to the end of an eventful 2012. The Catholic Times' editorial
reminds us that at this time of year we tend to look back on the passing year with regret, and
forward to the new year with some trepidation.

Our present
society is
facing unprecedented changes and difficulties. The economic problems now
being faced by Korea rank second only to the conditions that required
the IMF bailout; the country is suffering the pains of a
stagnant economy. There is generational and class discord, which
makes us lose our societal balance; the efforts of our citizens working
for a
good and human society end up dispersed and diffused.

How
is it with our Christians? How much of our trusting in the
Gospels accompanies us as we go about our daily tasks? Not much, it's
safe to say. For this reason the Pope, with concern for Christians who in these troubled times are disturbed in their faith life, has given us this Year of Faith.

The Year of Faith may be directed mainly for the struggling Christianity of the West, despite its rich and deep-rooted heritage, but we
also see the signs of this weakness in faith life in Korea. If we do
not attempt to fight against this drift in society, these same problems
will come to us shortly.

We can't deny that within
Catholicism in Korea, there is the attachment to an individualized and personal
religious life: a desire to hold firmly to one's spirituality, live morally, and seek salvation.

However, the Church teaches that the true
Christian is to go beyond the self, relate to the community and
society, and desire the salvation of the world. We should have a desire
to see the world changed to the values we have received from Christ and
be involved in the attainment of this goal by our participation. The editorial ends by asking us to reflect on what does it mean for us to say we are true disciples of Christ.

For a Christian, this desire to
see the teachings of Christ accepted is not a desire to be on the
winning side or push a certain opinion, but it is a matter of love for
the world and our brothers and sisters.
Christians believe that this is the way to find happiness in life.We see the many problems that we have in society. Big and
small conflicts, suicides, horrible
crimes, mental and physical difficulties, frustrations, loss of hope
and not knowing why we are here in the first place. Christians should feel we have some of the answers to these problems. And as Pope John
Paul II said it is not a desire to impose these values but proposing them. This
requires, first of all, that we as Christians truly believe we have the
remedies for the many ills afflicting society.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Catholic media in Korea has for some time emphasized in stories
and articles the importance of community in our spiritual life. With
the ascendency of individualism in society this has been a very
difficult sell. The Catholic Times' journalist headlines his article with:
"Need to Bring Joy into the Life of Community." Community life, it is true, often interferes with individual plans and for many becomes an obstacle to participation in community activities.

One
Catholic asked, "Do I have to go to confession? I have not sinned. I
pray the rosary morning and evening, and never miss Mass. Why do I have
to go to confession?" The priest asked what have you done for the poor? Have you prayed for the poor? The parishioner replied, "Do I also have to do that?"

This is the way a priest explains individualism as it appears in parish life. More than something wrong, he
hears this with sadness. In the Our Father we pray 'Our' but many
still ask only for what satisfies personal needs.

In response to this situation, the Korean church,
realizing that many Catholics were satisfied with a personal faith
life has in recent years endeavored to bring small community life more directly into the life of our Christians, increasing fellowship, connecting faith life with daily life, and strengthening the Christians' initiative and spontaneity. The efforts have not all been successful, sometimes colliding with problems already existing within some parishes. However, even with the problems it is a good alternative, the columnist believes, to a distorted individualism.

One pastor quoted by the journalist wrote that the small community initiative was encouraged by the Second Vatican Council and is a sign of the future direction of the Church. It's a way of incorporating the poor into the life of the church and bringing joy and intimacy into the community.

At
the beginning of the Church, these small communities gave life to the
Church. In our own Korean beginnings, the early Christians were not
interested only in their own salvation. Even in difficult circumstances,
they were living according to the teachings of the church, and going
out to their neighbors in love. Recently, the building of large parish
churches has closed many mission stations where community life was
strong. When the mission stations joined the large parish communities, there was a loss of intimacy and a feeling of alienation.

Bringing back the joy of a shared faith life will be an important part of the future Church. Dioceses are working to make the small Christian communities an attractive option for their members and
consider this an important pastoral initiative. One pastor expresses
the hope that ultimately those working to build community, when they experience the joy, satisfaction and benefits of community, will be the movement's best teachers.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

He spent two and half years
in prison for fraud and embezzlement and now is a volunteer in prison
pastoral work. Released from prison in 2007, Andrew, now 58, was interviewed recently by the Catholic Times. For ten years, he explained, he worked as a division head for a large corporation. He
lived comfortably, not envying anybody. However, he decided to leave
and get into the construction business, which ran into difficulties,
and those who had invested in the business were not informed. He admits the business failed because of mistakes stemming from his prideful nature and disregard for the legitimate interests of his investors. His only interest was in doing things his way; that alone, he said, made him happy.

When
the prison sentence was given, all his acquaintances left him and
problems arose within the family; leading very close to a divorce from
his wife. His life unraveled, and he fell into complete despair.

Prison
life for Andrew was hell. He was afraid, found it difficult to eat or
sleep and was full of resentment, living in a daze. He wondered if he would
be able to keep his sanity in the prison situation. He felt it was a place he didn't
deserve to be in.

He soon found, however, that his great misfortune was turning into a
blessing. Relating with those who came to the prison to help the
inmates, he began to see life through the life of faith he once
possessed. Seeing the volunteers coming to help the prisoners
with no financial incentive made him reflect on his own life of greed.
He had been baptized and married in the Catholic Church but that was the extent
of his faith life.

His thoughts began to change,
and he began to see that his life was a mess. Each day he would
think of the many things he did wrong and began to repent. A great
change took place, and he became involved with the Catholic prisoners
who had formed themselves into a community. He was a lector at Mass and
became a leader in the community; joy returned to his life.

Andrew, after release from prison Nov. 30, 2007 (coincidentally his name day) went to the
nearest church to pray, gave thanks and promised to spend the rest of
his life in service to those in prison. He has finished a training
program for mission, and is now taking a university course in theology.
He has nothing to be proud of from his past, but his own experience in
prison has made him a missioner to those who still find prison life only
a negative experience. He wants to help them find new reasons to make their
lives worth living.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

"We are waiting for the liturgical feast of Christmas. Coming to the
end of the year, wearied and somewhat depleted, we find consolation in the
coming feast." With these words a priest, also a philosophy professor, begins his article, in the With Bible magazine, on the world's greatest story. Those who are not Christian, he says, often have the same
feelings we Christians have. Hannah Arendt a Jew and a philosopher also had these feelings.

A student of Martin Heidegger and Carl Jaspers, she fled to the
States during the Nazi period in Germany. Her book, The Human Condition, influenced many during the second
half of the 20th century, particularly the chapter on action. She begins the
chapter with the words of Isak Dinesen, the author of Babette's Feast,
"All sorrows can be borne if you put them in a story or tell a story
about them."

Arendt says that the power of the story comes when we finally disclose in narrative form who we are by noting our actions and words. When we become conscious
of our life in this way, as recounted in our actions and words, we can begin to see our life as part of the fabric of the society we
live in. Realizing that our lives are individual stories enacted between
a birth and a death, we understand and pass on our stories, says Arendt, by acknowledging our
weaknesses and our inability to foresee the future. However, within this imperfect reality, we
nevertheless must act and speak.

This perception comes from her understanding of
the word 'natality.' The professor notes that her idea is the mirror
image of what her teacher Heidegger taught: "Being unto death." For Arendt,
birth was a new beginning, giving the person trust and hope that even
the wisdom of the Greeks was not able to discover, and that Arendt, though not a
Christian, was able to comprehend. She ended her reflections on this point with the
words: "Humanity in this world has been given trust and hope expressed
in the joy that comes with the Christmas story: the birth of a child."

To understand the word 'natality' that Arendt uses, the professor says we
must understand her use of the words 'forgiveness' and 'promise.' The past
cannot be undone, and we do not know what the future holds for us. Because of our innate weakness--the weakness of a newborn--we become dependent on our willingness to extend forgiveness, both to others and to ourselves. And since we do not know what the future
will be, we become dependent on the promise of a better future, which gives us hope to go into that future to "build islands
in the big ocean of life." Arendt says it was Jesus who gave us this hope for
forgiveness and promise.

We are not born to die but
to be reborn into a new beginning. We can know happiness, says Arendt, by using the twin tools of forgiveness and promise. The same good news of the Gospels we try to live daily. Merry Christmas.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Walking the city
streets, we see many symbols of Christmas but few that are close to the
meaning of what the day should mean. We see Christmas trees, wreathes,
stars, candles, bells, Santa Claus, candy canes, stockings, and many
other symbols which in years past had a clear association with the
Christ event. Today they are merely attempts to increase sales and make
more money. So begins the column on View from the Ark in the Catholic Times.

This
is a good indication of what has happened in all aspects of our
society. We give meanings to symbols that fit our view of life. And for
many the Christmas event has lost its meaning. It is a time to be merry
and probably has more to do with the winter solstice than with Christ.

Recently,
a woman without religious beliefs asked me a question I had
never been asked before; it made me laugh, but also think.
What does God do all day? I was surprised by the question but did
quickly find an answer.And the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was one of the best questions I had ever been asked.

We hear in John I, 4:8 that God is love. The answer came rather easily, remembering these words: God
spends his time in loving. The answer did seem to say something to the
woman, and it said more to me. "God's love was revealed in
our midst in this way: he sent his only Son to the world that we might
have life through him."

For a Christian, if God ever forgot the
world and his creation for a moment, we would all cease to exist. What
keeps the world and the universe in existence, though not for the
scientist or philosopher but for a Christian, is the love that God has
for what he has made. He showed us this love with a visual aid that can't be surpassed. He came to earth to live with us. It would be
hard to beat that even in the world of children nursery and fairy tales.

The editorial in the Peace Weekly would like to know what questions he would have for us today. And wonders what would be our answers. Merry Christmas.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

A Catholic priest philosopher, writing in the Kyeongyang magazine,
headlined his article: Those Who Want Happiness Need to Walk the Way of
Love. He then gives us some examples of this theme.

For
St.Thomas the answer to the question What is happiness? was the
beatific vision. Many have difficulty with his "sugared,
intellectualized," as it has been called, meaning of happiness. The writer goes on to say
that this happiness that comes with gazing (the beatific vision) is the
purified and completeness of love. When St.Thomas speaks about happiness
what is presupposed for him is that full knowledge equals full love.
Shakespeare said something similar: “Love talks with better knowledge,
and knowledge with dearer love."

The answer to the meaning of love is
love. We learn love by loving. We have to find the way of love to get
to happiness. We are all weak and scared individuals, but the first
step on this road to love is the way to happiness.

The musical
made from The Tale of Two Cites was popular here in Korea, and the
priest uses the story as an example of love. It is a melodrama, with
the French revolution as background. Old fashioned but with skill in
the presentation, the musical leaves a strong impression on the viewer. Sydney Carton, a very talented lawyer, has
lost faith in himself and in society. His unreciprocated love
for Lucy, pure and full of mercy, remains and, in thanks for what he was
given, offers up his life for love. The last scene shows the saintly
and happy death of this once lost soul.

The thesis that love
is happiness is known by those who walk tirelessly along this way. Is
this not the love of imperfect human beings for other imperfect humans?
Though this love is still finite and selfish, is it not the imitation of infinite
love and the beginning step on the way to happiness?

Another
example in our times is the sister Emmanuelle, who lived with the trash
collectors in Cairo for 20 years, showing her love to a forgotten
segment of society, living in their poverty-like circumstances. In her
words: "Many people carry within themselves the eternal face. Their gaze
gives a response to love. They very naturally grow close to those they
meet. Even their everyday duties, which are repeated over and over again to
accomplish their tasks, are freed from emptiness and finiteness." Isn't this the
result of love?

The priest concludes that his love is his
happiness. For his happiness to be real he has to eagerly desire that
his love be real. St. Augustine said after finishing writing one of his books, the book
is finished but the quest is not. He ends his article on happiness
by wishing that we all continue the quest in learning how to love.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Many seeing those dying of hunger in Africa, the agony of families losing everything in natural disasters, and not mentioned by our spiritual columnist in the Catholic
Times, the recent horrible killing of 20 kindergarten children, who has not been deeply saddened by these tragic events.

Here
it is not the head but the heart that is moved. The head has no need to
think, examine or cross examine; there is an immediate response from
the heart (the spirit). We are in harmony with the will of God; the head
rests, and we give ourselves over to the spirit.

This
is true also with a devote reading
of the Scriptures. If we have only a rudimentary
knowledge of Scripture and do not understand, we still read. With
greater knowledge we understand more but even then we need to stop our
thinking
and read with the heart. We leave aside our rationalizations and rest
in
the fullness of the words. We can remain a whole day with a few words of
the Scriptures: "found it very good" from the first chapter of Genesis, pondering over these words as our prayer. All becomes one and simple because we have given the
mental faculties a temporary rest.

The mental faculties
are good but when they are overused problems develop. At present in Korea the intellect has primacy. From grammar school on to college too many adults, according to the columnist, are living in the head: centering on the 'I' and seeking personal fulfillment. We are not giving
the spiritual its rightful place.

In Korea, there are many who are addicted to internet games. They have not been able to surmount the mental, which often develop into addictions to the internet and gambling, and fantasizing about sex. And these problems are not restricted to a few special people, repeats the columnist, but mostly those who live entirely within the head.

Reflect
for a moment on a person kneeling before the remains of a loved one. For
the moment he or she has left the thinking faculties and cherishes the memory
of the dead person, crying in the heart and spirit. In these
cases few are those who are still there with the ego, or worrying about
work, or absorbed with future plans, but only present to the dead
person. It is a a time when one is lost in silence. It is not a silence that is intended but comes naturally. That is the way we are made. Most of us are
not familiar with this way of behaving that comes with putting aside our thinking
faculties.

Putting ourselves out in front, criticizing others, does not appear when we are concerned in
forming the self in harmony with the will of God. We get rid of our
thinking and are content to rest in the abundance of our spirit. It is truly a precious present we have been given. It is here we experience the fullness of truth.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Life
is often like walking a
tightrope: needing to dream and at the same time needing to keep our
feet firmly on the ground to escape unhappiness--if we are to keep our
ideals and reality in the proper perspective. If we only go in search of
our ideals, there is
a chance they will disappear, and if the present reality is all we
trust, there is no guarantee we will always possess it.

There
are many that dream big: they will change the world, become
rich, a great scientist... these dreams help in achieving one's goals. However,
many will run up against reality, and have to deflate the dreams to make
them more realistic.

In life,
we have success and failures. New beginnings, new efforts making new
dreams, practicing becoming more of what we should be. The efforts are
tiring but they also add to the beauty of life. If before the
wall of reality is encountered, we feel frustrated and give up, not
giving it our best, we are not searching for our ideals. Even if we
fail we need to search and try our best to achieve our ideals.

The desk columnist of the Catholic Times gives us the example of a taxi driver who envied all those he saw who
were successful; he wanted to get into the business world but because
of poverty began driving a taxi to support his family. He expressed
this feeling of disappointed to a passenger who looked prosperous. The
passenger told him to leave what he was doing and begin to work to
achieve his dream. The taxi driver told him that was impossible because
of the needs of his family. The passenger told the driver that he
should not demean what he was doing, that there were people who would gladly exchange their jobs for his. But if he wanted to quit his job, he should search for another dream and make plans systematically to achieve it.

When
one is dissatisfied by what he is doing the dream is usually missing. Dreams
are what motivates us. But when we distort and stubbornly cling to our unrealistic dreams
we may be running away from reality and sinking into shame, says the
columnist. We have to be prepared to jettison unrealistic dreams.

For a
Christian, following Jesus is both our ideal and
our reality. We trust
and rely on him; we do not use the yardstick given to us by the the
world. Jesus' way is not always what we would like, but it is the way we need
to go. He told us not to be afraid and to trust.

The
columnist ends by telling us that it is necessary to dream. Without dreams,
we are going to be miserable. If we do not know where we want to go, how
can we find strength. We will have to decide on how this is going to be
expressed in our lives. What is important is not to give up, to have
passion, and to make the effort.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Sermons are
an important part of the Catholic liturgy but they are not the heart of
what happens at the altar. And yet many will leave the church having
decided that what happened during the Mass was boring; the sermon was
uninteresting. The sermon receives more importance than it deserves. But
even a poor sermon can add to our growth in the totality of the Mass.

The
whole Mass is a audio-visual sermon. A representation and memorial of the love that
Jesus showed us by his life, death and resurrection while here on
earth. We are not present at Mass as passive viewers but as active
friends of Jesus who want to deepen our relationship with him by
listening to him, by talking to him, by questioning him, by spending time
in understanding his call to discipleship. And by becoming one with him. With
this active understanding of the Mass, we have no time to be bored
because we are offering the Mass with the priest.

The columnist writing on spirituality for the Catholic Times mentions a priest who was well-known for giving inspiring sermons. He gives us a glimpse of the thoughts of his friend when preparing his sermons. Though he spent
a great deal of time preparing them and saw them as very important, and
was able to move the hearts of the parishioners, the columnist said
that the priest didn't accept the praise uncritically.

He explained: "If
my sermons are all that they remember and yet they do not pay attention
to what is happening at the altar, forgetting what is being represented
and what we are remembering, and do not experience the joy and
happiness of the liturgy, then there's a problem. If all that is remembered after
the Mass is the sermon, then I have the fear that I pandered to a
desire to be popular. I'm saying with sugary words what they want to
hear, and that is not what it's all about."

For
a Catholic, the sermon should draw us closer to Jesus, but this is done
through the whole of the Mass, and it should not depend on the quality
of the sermon. If we are receptive and have a desire to grow spiritually then the reception of God's grace in our hearts will not be prevented by a poor sermon.

It cannot be stressed enough that though sermons are important and nourish us,
they are only part of what is happening at Mass. We are renewing again
the relationship with our Lord and preparing ourselves for the work he
has given us. The word 'liturgy' means unpaid
labor exacted by lawful authority. Jesus asks us to get involved in this
work. The word 'Mass' derives from the word of dismissal taken from the
Latin. Showing our thanks for the trust he shows us, we answer with
gratitude, in the last words of the Mass: "Thanks be to God." Since we have been united with Jesus in the Eucharist, the gratitude can not be exaggerated.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

"Know Yourself" words we know
well, that have come down to us from the time of the Greek philosophers; and very difficult to achieve. A professor of philosophy at the
Catholic University, on the education page of the Catholic Times, prepares a short meditation on the subject by using Kant's famous four questions.

Kant
in his old age, looking back on his life, believed the subject of
philosophy could be summed up by the answers to four questions. What can I know? What should I do? What may I hope? What does it mean to be human? Attempting to give answers to these four questions he
arrived at his philosophy.

To the first question, What can I know, he
discusses the nature and scope of
knowledge. To the second, What should I do, he discusses ethics. To the third, What may I hope for, he discusses religion and beliefs. The answer to the fourth question, What does it mean to be human, follows naturally from the answers to the previous three
questions. With his answer to this last question, Kant believed he had summed up
and answered all previous philosophical questions.

Humanity
has tried to answer these questions over the centuries, speculating far and wide but not satisfied with the answers kept on searching. Humans will continue to ask these
questions until death intervenes, and when doubt appears they will look
for better answers. It is from these questions that philosophy
developed. There are all kinds of definitions for philosophy, but at the
end it comes down to questioning our humanity and looking for answers.
The results of our understanding will decide the way we will
live, and in this sense all of us are philosophizing.

By
philosophizing, we sometimes come to a new understanding of ourselves and look
upon ourselves with different eyes. This enables us to see others
differently and to initiate new relationships. A person, when viewed philosophically, becomes not merely another object but one I can love
or hate. A stranger can become a neighbor, and a person hurting can become the stimulus for selfless giving. The way I will understand and accept others will
depend on how I understand myself. And my philosophy will determine,
in many cases, how I will act.

Christianity is a
revealed religion but many, without any reference to Christianity, have
deduced many of its teachings from their
own personal philosophies. "Faith implies reason and perfects it" would be the Christian formulation of how we are to arrive at a life enhancing philosophy. Or, put another way, how the supernatural builds on the natural, or how grace, as St. Thomas
said, builds on nature. In the past philosophy was considered the
handmaid of theology but there would be few philosophers today who would
feel comfortable with theology let alone see philosophy as a
handmaid. But whether handmaid or not, the Church teaches that both philosophy and theology are necessary for a proper understanding of the fourth question posed by Kant: What does it mean to be human?

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The
difficulties now being experienced in Korea because of the increased presence of foreign workers, interracial marriages,
and the school-related problems faced by the children of these marriages, which has resulted in prejudice throughout the country, has gone
all the way to the UN, says the priest-columnist writing for the Catholic Times. Korea
once took pride in
considering itself a homogeneous people. "The white-clad folks, the
unsullied virgin" was our thinking in the past. Today we are in a
time where harmony and communication are seen as indispensable ingredients for creating a peaceful world, and the elitist attitudes of the past are seen as stumbling blocks in creating such a world.

The
United Nations' Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination has pointed out that Korea has encouraged a belief in the
superiority of their culture based on racial discrimination: "purity of
blood" beliefs, using words such as
"mixed blood children," and similar derogatory descriptions, that have
worsened social conditions within the country. The columnist wants us to
now face the problems we have created by our prejudicial attitudes by
emphasizing the need for better communication, using the example of
people who have come to Korea from other cultures.

There is
little difficulty understanding how
children of interracial marriages feel when they hear "mixed blood" and
similar words. There needs to be openness and magnanimity when relating
with persons of another culture, he says, particularly when the culture
and language is not easy to assimilate, as is the case with Korean.
Understanding this simple fact will go a long way toward better
communication with those who are struggling with the culture.

The priest mentions the efforts that have been made
to translate the words of Scripture correctly so that we, centuries
removed, can understand them. This requires that the translators know the
culture of Jesus' time and the meaning they understood by the words they used; it's an important task.

The
world continues to change and seemingly at an ever quicker pace, and new
ways of communicating must be found if we are to achieve the peaceful
world we all would like. This is especially true if we want to present
the teachings of Christ to our generation. Pope John Paul II wanted to
achieve this goal with a new way of delivering the message: which he
called the new
evangelization. The message is the same, the way
we expound it will be different.

If we do not know the
young people in our society, we will fail to reach them, no matter how hard we try to communicate with them. It is
imperative that we understand the typical mindset of the young and what they hold
important if we want to communicate with them.

In the first
chapters of Genesis, we read that there has been a confusion of
languages and a failure to communicate because of sin. It exists
everywhere and perhaps most disconcertingly in our families, where we
often don't
take the time to uncover the root cause of the problem. We have been
taught
to listen and obey our elders, which is a beautiful part of our culture
but
no one pays attention to this "old way" anymore. In today's society, the
inter-generational divide between the young and the old is looming
larger than ever before. If we think we can continue to transmit the
message of the gospel as in
the past, we will fail.

One of the biggest problems in
transmitting the message is the reliance on an older, previously
successful authoritarian attitude that no longer speaks to the young.
The attitude that pervaded the Second Vatican Council was to open up to
newer methods of communication to achieve peace and harmony among all
people. To continue the old
way of communicating is to go counter to the teachings of Vatican II and
against what we mean by evangelization for our times.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Among the many questions posed to
the candidates before the 18th presidential election on December 19,
2012, one which must be taken into sincere deliberation to find a proper
answer is critical: "Should we give priority to the reconciliation of
the two Koreas or should we solve first and foremost the problem of
conflict and/or social polarization within South Korea?"From the beginning, the present
government with President Lee Myeong-bak came up with an inter-Korean
policy which is almost impossible for North Korea to accept. The South
Korean government said it would cooperate with North Korea, so that the
North, having given up nuclear arms, could reach the mark of 3,000 USD
on GNP per capita within ten years after opening its border to the outer
world. Besides, the present government denounced the so-called
"Sunshine Policy" of the two late presidents, Mr. Kim Dae-jung and Mr.
Roh Mu-hyeon, arguing that those 10 years of their successive
presidencies were lost and in vain. Consequently, the relationship
between North and South Korea grew worse, as both Koreas entered into a
phase of mutual defamation, disagreement, and even military conflict.Those who argue for tougher
measures against North Korea say that the Sunshine Policy contributed to
increasing resources for the dictatorship and nuclear arms in North
Korea and made the South dance in humiliation to the piping of the
North. On the other hand, those affirming the Sunshine Policy assert
that the government escalated the tension between the two Koreas with
hard-line policies that resulted in the collapse of inter-Korean
economic cooperation. It is said that North Korea yielded the mining
rights on abundant minerals in its territory to the People's Republic of
China (PRC), as North Korea inclined toward de facto economic and
political subordination to the PRC in its struggle for bare survival
under international pressures.What the North Korean regime
fears most is the North Korean people, not the military might of South
Korea or of the USA. In fact, the North Korean regime as well as the
conservative camp of South Korea might want to shun by all means the
allegedly "dangerous" dĕnte between the two Koreas which started with the Sunshine Policy.The North Korean regime might
want to create more tension between the two Koreas with provocative
means, if and when South Korea tries to spread the warmth of the
Sunshine Policy to the North Korean people. At the same time, the
conservative camp of South Korea would ask the government for more
hard-line policies for the inter-Korean relationship on the pretext that
such measures are appropriate for North Korea.It is not humiliation but
tolerance that leads a strong and wealthy party to be generous enough to
accommodate the mistakes of its counterpart. To accommodate North Korea
with the spirit of infinite forgiveness and love for mutual benefits
may well be the cross which our nation should bear. In this regard, I
would like to ask the presidential candidates about their concrete
policies or visions for the reconciliation of the two Koreas as the
first step towards the unification of Korea.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Eating together they all
raised their glasses in a toast but the glasses only held soft drinks.
Not a drop of liquor to drink but the topic of conversation was entirely
on drinking. They were members of the Sobriety Movement in the diocese
of Seoul. The journalist who wrote the story that appeared in the Peace Weekly attended the meal. He began drinking
during his first year of college and continued for the next fifteen
years, mostly when eating out and attending many year-end festivities.
Not once was he without a drink, he said, until
that evening.

The drinking culture of Korea pervades all strata of society and is well-known. There
have been changes in recent years because of the serious consequences from excessive drinking. And these efforts have met with some success. But he goes on to say that the practice of heavy drinking continues, usually when there is a business meeting or when friends get together.

He mentioned that when he goes
eating with friends, even before the side dishes come out they have
finished drinking one or two bottles of soju (the popular cheap
distilled liquor). At the end of eating and drinking with male friends they often
go to a second and third place, changing the atmosphere but continuing the drinking and talking. This group, however, goes to tea
rooms or coffee shops. He admits that during the meal with the sobriety members, it was not easy to produce a pleasant
atmosphere without the usual drinking. A worker at the Center said that
all their meals and events would be of this type--no liquor would be served.

The priest
who heads the Center recalled when going out meant just 'pour and drink'. In Korea, one usually does not pour his own liquor, and a
little force helping others to join in the drinking is permissible.
Nowadays, the eating and the drinking are separated, said the priest. And
if you drink too much that is a reason for losing your job and, in the
conglomerate world, a black mark against you when it comes to promotions.

The article mentioned two men who after they had stopped drinking found everything
working for the good, One said his business began to take off and
the other said he began a new life; even the conversations were more memorable for he could remember them. He refuted the notion that liquor helps dialoguing with others.

The priest recounted his own story
of heavy drinking and confessed that his parishioners over the years sent
complaints to the diocese about his drinking; the complaints were enough, he said, to fill three
bags. Before he stopped not only was his spiritual life a mess but
his mental and emotional life as well.

That evening, during the liquor-less meal, those present mentioned how difficult
it was to give up their old way of life. They all said that the
most difficult time is when they are celebrating a personal event or a
promotion and have to refuse the drink that is offered. They have found that refusing a drink becomes easier when they admit to having an
alcoholic problem or have learned to refuse politely. But probably the most successful strategy mentioned was to avoid the
occasions where drink is being served.

That evening, without drinks being available, the journalist said it all
came to an end in about an hour and a half, much less than it would normally have taken if there had been drinking. Drink does help intimacy because of
the vulnerability and the exposure of one's humanity, both attractive
traits, but there are other ways that this laudable result can be
achieved.

We need to find how to make living without alcohol more attractive to those who find it difficult to do so. Providing an example for others by living alcohol-free, as the members of the Sobriety Movement attempt to do, is a first step in the right direction.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

A doctor recounts the story of an old priest who found consolation in the hospice section of a hospital for the alleviation of pain from cancer. His
father had died when he was
only two years old so he doesn't remember his father. This left him
alone with his mother. The church in the village was the refuge for the
mother, and the son also grew close to the church community. One of his
relatives was a religious sister and the thought did come to him of
entering the priesthood and in high school this became his decision. He
often said it was the prayers of his mother that enabled him to become a
priest. A picture taken together with his mother when he entered the seminary is in his wallet and in a frame that
continues to be on his desk at home. His mother was
his father, teacher, friend and sweetheart. The person who would have been
the happiest on the day of his ordination. But she collapsed
suddenly two month before his ordination and died shortly after.

Now in the hospital he would frequently call out to his mother when experiencing pain, wrote his attending doctor in the culture of life
column of the Peace Weekly. Medically there was no more that could be done. The
cancer had spread throughout the body and there was no medical way of
controlling the pain. This is difficult, the doctor said, not only for the patient but for all those who
are taking care of the patient. This common occurrence is frustrating for the medical
profession and leaves most doctors with a feeling of helplessness.

He
recounts the Greek myth of Alcyone and Ceyx. The husband Ceyx went on
a trip by boat and did not return. Alcyone went to the port daily
waiting for his return and praying to the gods for his safe return. One
of the gods felt sorry for Alcyone whose husband had
died in a shipwreck, so he had Morpheus make her husband appear in a
dream that would make clear what had happened to him. With this news she went
back to the ocean and prayed for his heavenly bliss.

During the priest's pastoral days, whenever
his mother was mentioned, all the Christians knew that tears would come to
the priest's eyes. When he was diagnosed with cancer and became weak,
the thought of his mother came often. When he was in pain he used to say
that his mother would appear to him in a dream.

It was
only when he relied on morphine that he was able to rid himself of the
pain of cancer and get some sleep. It was at that time that the expression on his face would become peaceful. It was also at that time that 'Morpheus' allowed his mother to appear to him in sleep, as the daily dose of morphine was increased to get rid of the pain. Because of the morphine the priest would not regain
consciousness. During this time of sleep in God's time, very naturally,
the breathing and heart will stop.

The doctor said he noticed on the face of the priest a gentle smile, during his last moments. He had no doubts that the priest was seeing his mother at his ordination Mass and also at his first Mass, praying for her son.

Friday, December 14, 2012

"The we disappears
and the I appears before God" headlines an article
that bemoans the distorted understanding of secularization that
gives rise to individualism and passivity. Rather than discovering our authentic
faith during the Year of Faith, the article
contends that we are likely to find, under the banner of the new
evangelization, according to many scholars and theologians in Korea,that
the biggest obstacle to our faith is an increasing individualism.
Individual spirituality is making inroads within the faith life of
our Christians. Pope Benedict has alluded to this tendency in one of his
interviews, saying that passive and individual
spirituality can now be seen in the life of the Church. Korean scholars see
personal profit, satisfaction, and the increase of excessive selfishness as
derivative of this thinking. No matter how strong the idea of the holy may be,
centering on oneself is growing stronger. Individualism can readily be seen in
the globalization that is taking place in Korea.
Many see this drift towards individualism as the key in reading the future. Religion is influenced by this trend in
society. When religion is reduced to the private, the social elements are
discarded.
One theologian says it's difficult to import the standards used in the West to
determine the results of this transformation within Korean
society. We can see the drift away from community by those
who have ceased going to Mass and confession and have become tepid. This has been
operative in the Church for sometime. Another scholar sees postmodernism and its stress on the 'me'
against the 'we' as having a destructive influence on the understanding of
religion for many.
One element of this change is the reliance on religion to make one feel
good and to provide blessings. One of the surveys made in 1998
found that most people when praying are interested in their own or family
needs. In Korea with our folk religion, which is centered on the self, this
modern tendency fits in well. And one scholar feels that it is developing into a worshipof the self.
A Catholic Time's survey on spiritual life and
community, first made in 1987, found that 73 percent of those surveyed thought
community life important. The same questions, asked again in 1998,
found that 63 percent considered
community important. In the last survey in 2006,only
38.6 percent considered community important. A clear sign
of a continual drop in the way Christians see community
life, and supporting evidence for
those who see the tendency toward individualism. In conclusion, a leader in the the studies of
Catholic culture says that although we have a statistical increase in the
number of Catholics, there is a decrease
in identifying with the community, a lessening of religious sensibilities, and
fewer people who are willing to sacrifice for
a cause.The mystery of church community and of a community
of love as being essential to
Christianity are goals that the Church has to address in its teaching, liturgy, and ways of living the faith as it moves
forward into the future.